Tuesday, February 1, 2011

It was the summer between 7th and 8th grade.I’d had a wonderful summer with a boy that I was crazy about.We’d spend days together swimming and hiking and hanging with our friends.We had a great group of friends then.The girls were cute and shy and the boys were funny and tried to make the girls giggle.

Every night before the street lights came on, he’d ride me home on the handle bars of his bike and we’d give each other tentative little kisses good bye.You know, the sweet kind where you touch the other person’s lips just enough to feel their softness.

Sometimes we’d all tell our parents we were sleeping over at a friend’s house, then we’d all get together at this one kid’s farm and build a fire in the field.Someone would bring hot dogs and we’d sit out all night talking and telling stories.Some of the kids would pair off and slip away into the shadows, but it was all pretty innocent as I remember.

One night towards the end of the summer, the boy and I were lying in my backyard just looking at the stars.It was cool and dark and even though my mom and dad were just inside, it felt like there was no one around for miles.We started talking about stars and moons and life on other planets and somehow the conversation turned to God.It was then that I made the most perfect discovery and in trying to share it, I stumbled over the words, not able to voice my wonder at what I had just seen and felt.

I was finally able to get out “God is everywhere.He is in everything.God is in every blade of grass…”

The boy didn’t say anything for a moment and then suddenly, he was smiling at me.“Cool” he said.“Cool”.Then he kissed me so softly and lay back down in the grass.

Several years later, he started going with my best friend and that was a tough blow. I pretty much dropped out of our group and went my own way, not able to stand seeing them together. We drifted apart and eventually didn’t even speak. But our senior year in high school he wrote in my yearbook, “Just remember, God is in every blade of grass.”It made me smile.“Cool” I said.“Cool.”